


A Long Line of Zeroes to Build a Future On

by rebelmeg



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aunt May is the best and I love her, Awesome Pepper Potts, Fluff, Gen, Precious Ned Leeds, Precious Peter Parker, Supportive May Parker (Spider-Man), Tony Stark Has A Heart, scholarships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 13:10:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19974625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelmeg/pseuds/rebelmeg
Summary: May Parker gets the shock of her life when Stark Industries CEO Pepper Potts stops by for tea... and to tell her about the scholarship Peter has earned.





	A Long Line of Zeroes to Build a Future On

**Author's Note:**

  * For [feyrelay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/feyrelay/gifts).



> Fic is a great bribery tactic, did you know that? Absolutely remarkable. 
> 
> ANYWAY, Miss Fey was bribed into sleeping, and this fic was the bribe! She gave me the character "Aunt May", the prop "Stark Industries letterhead", and the verb "kiss". Hope you like your bribe, darling!

May’s jaw dropped as she read the letter for a third time.

“This… isn’t a joke?”

Pepper Potts (yes, that one, _the_ Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries and BAMF-iest woman in the business pages) grinned and shook her head. “Definitely not a joke. Actually, Mr. Stark was very insistent.”

May’s eyes shifted between the SI letterhead at the top of the page, the dizzying number of zeroes halfway down the page, and the two signatures at the bottom. “I have absolutely no words.”

Ms. Potts seemed perfectly content to wait until words came back to her again, sipping the tea May had made and taking a bite of the gluten and sugar free cookies she had tried making. And burned…

“Oh, you really don’t have to eat that.” She blurted out. “I’m really not a cook, I should stop trying.”

Ms. Potts smiled in a somewhat enigmatic way. “This is not even close to the worst food I’ve put in my mouth, don’t you worry. Mr. Stark can’t cook either, but bless him, he tries.”

May laughed at that, imagining the billionaire superhero persona that the media portrayed doing something as normal as cooking. “Peter does better than me, to tell you the truth. Not that it’s a high bar for him to get over, but still.”

“He’s a really good kid. I’ve been just as impressed by him as Mr. Stark,” Ms. Potts waved a hand at the paper May had almost forgotten she was holding. “Obviously.”

May looked back down at the letter again, her eyes getting stuck once again on those zeroes. “I just… a _hundred thousand dollars_?!”

“College is expensive. And if Peter decides that he’d like to continue to work with Mr. Stark, or even in a different area of Stark Industries, if his schedule permits, that certainly won’t be the only scholarship he’ll be entitled to. This is just for his first semester, whenever he decides he's ready for that. If you’re all right with all of it, of course. Until Peter is eighteen, you are the guardian of the scholarship account, and you can choose to decline the scholarship if you want to.”

Pride was something that May had learned not to hold onto too tightly, not that this was charity. She knew exactly how much college cost, the tuition and room and board and books, and things were already financially tight as it was. A scholarship of any amount would be a big help to get Peter into college, but this scholarship? It would allow Peter to go anywhere he wanted. The opportunities he could have…

“Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t say no. This is Peter’s success, something he has worked so hard to earn, and I would never take that away from him.”

Ms. Potts smiled again. “Good. Mr. Stark will be very pleased with that. He’s really fond of Peter.”

May shook her head, thinking of the way her nephew talked about his hero. “And Peter just idolizes him. I really wasn’t sure about it at first, the whole internship thing, but it really has been good for him. He’s really blossomed.”

Said blossoming teenager chose that moment to unlock the door and stroll in.

“May, I’m home! Ned’s here too.”

“Hi May!”

“Hey boys. Peter, come in here, we’ve got a visitor.”

Peter all but came skidding around the corner, and he didn’t quite look disappointed, but it was obvious he wasn’t expecting Pepper. “Oh! Hey, Ms. Potts!”

She didn’t look at all upset about it as she grinned at him. “Hi Peter, nice to see you.”

“Is Mr. Stark with you?”

May sent Pepper a look and mouthed _idolizes_ at her behind her hand, and the two had to cover up their chuckles.

“Not this time, but you’re still good for Thursday, I assume? He said you two were working on some fun stuff.”

Ned, who was lingering just behind Peter, started tugging on his sleeve. Looking confused, Peter looked around, and there was some kind of silent conversation held that involved some very amusing facial expressions and a lot of wiggling eyebrows. 

“Oh, yeah! Um, do you think I could bring Ned with me? Would Mr. Stark mind? He’s my guy in the chair, after all.”

May didn’t get that reference at all, but she didn’t get half of what Peter said sometimes, so it was fine.

“I’d imagine so, I can check with him. And in the meantime,” Ms. Potts stood up, and shook everyone’s hand, “I do need to get back to work. May, it was a pleasure to finally meet you in person. And you too, Ned.”

While Ned mumbled something under his breath and turned an amazing shade of red, May pressed the scholarship letter to her chest. “Thank you so much. Really.”

“Nothing that isn’t entirely deserved,” Ms. Potts assured her, and a minute later she was gone.

Peter and Ned had dumped their backpacks off in Peter’s room and were heading to the kitchen to eat everything they could find, but Peter paused in the living room. “Hey, what did she mean by that? Something entirely deserved?”

May briefly considered telling him, but decided to keep it a secret. Just for now. Peter had a birthday coming up, after all. And this was just the kind of thing that would send him absolutely over the moon.

“She was just telling me how great you’re doing with the internship. You’ve really impressed them, you know.” May planted a kiss on Peter’s forehead and gave him a quick squeeze. “I’m proud of you, you know that?”

With a sheepish grin, Peter ducked his head. “Yeah, I know.”

“Alright, now go hoover the contents of the fridge. But if you touch my Milanos, we’re gonna have words. You too, Ned!”

"Putting them back right now!" The teen answered from the kitchen.

With a cheeky grin, Peter went on his way, and as he did May wondered whether or not it would be too much to frame the scholarship letter she still had in her hand.


End file.
